A Surly Sage, Gun-Toting Minnesotan and All-American Crank

posted by Michael Williams

Herter.jpg

The Trad in his infinite knowledge of interesting things points us to one of the most entertaining reads the Sunday Book Review has ever offered up. The gem of an essay is on Minnesota native and epic hook and bullet purveyor George Herter. The titles of Herter’s books alone make me love the guy. The archive includes: “How to Get Out of the Rat Race and Live on $10 a Month,” the popular “Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices” and my personal favorite “How to Live With a Bitch.”

The funny thing is, the books were something of a hobby. George Herter was widely known for his quirky outdoor goods company and ubiquitous catalog (as pictured below). Click over and read The Trad’s entertaining post.

Herter's+Cover

Herter's+Boots

Comments on “A Surly Sage, Gun-Toting Minnesotan and All-American Crank”

    Busy Signal on July 31, 2009 11:17 AM:

    Youre running out of post’s!

    Focus in the PR.

    Memphis88 on July 31, 2009 11:27 AM:

    BS,

    Interesting apostrophe placement. I’d say this post fits pretty well with the focus of ACL.

    Michael Williams on July 31, 2009 12:30 PM:

    This is pretty much the same type of stuff I have always done. It is amazing how 99% of the time I am positive in tone and spirit and then negative people show up and insist on shitting on everything. After a while it just gets a little old. Slow and steady wins the race over here, so try and manage your expectations. —ACL

    Bill on July 31, 2009 12:55 PM:

    Hysterically funny and an excellent post.

    Jedd Rose on July 31, 2009 12:56 PM:

    Amen. Stick to it. Its so easy to harsh on absolutely everything and everyone, the hard part is moving the ball forward and contributing in a meaningful way. Keep on keepin on.

    Emjee on July 31, 2009 12:58 PM:

    awesome post. awesome blog.

    Paul on July 31, 2009 1:17 PM:

    I love the site but the negative comments are getting out of hand. Maybe you should move to a registration-required format. People may not waste their time if they have to set up a username and be approved by you before posting.

    Dwight on July 31, 2009 1:24 PM:

    Love the site, love the post… Herters made some incredible stuff, had no idea the guy behind it was such a curmudgeon… Need to track down some of his musings.

    Michael Williams on July 31, 2009 1:25 PM:

    I think you are right Paul. I’m going to change the comment approval process slightly and manually approve all of the comments for the foreseeable future. Hopefully that will weed out some of the negative “focus in the PR” people. I don’t want this to be the Sartorialist where only glowing comments are approved, but there has to be a reasonable middle ground. -ACL

    HolThaDo on July 31, 2009 1:44 PM:

    I actually enjoy the negative posts, mostly because I love when Michael replies with a spot-on crusher. No censorship!!

    I love this post and just ordered a copy of the book on amazon for a hundred freakin bucks. This guy was like some kind of deranged retailing tall-tale spinning Bukowski-esque mutha.

    What day DON’T I learn something cool on ACL?

    Nick on July 31, 2009 2:06 PM:

    Any post connected to the sentence…

    Surely this wasn’t the same man who titled one of his chapters “How to Kill a Wild Boar With a Shirt”?

    … is a friend of mine.

    Keep on keepin’ on.

    David on July 31, 2009 3:27 PM:

    Those boot prices are killing me.

    Brett H. on July 31, 2009 3:46 PM:

    I love the site and the banter.

    John Milton wrote, “Contraries laid together more evidently appear: it follows then that all controversies being permitted, falsehood will appear more false, and truth the more true.”

    Andrea on July 31, 2009 5:49 PM:

    The Bull Cook was reprinted by Ecco Press not too many years ago in paperback. List price: $14.00. It is entertaining bedtime reading and not a bad cookbook (idiosyncratic as all get out, but that’s the charm, right?)

    Gary on July 31, 2009 7:01 PM:

    I agree with HolThaDo. I always look forward to Michael’s response when someone makes a brainless comment.

    Paul on July 31, 2009 8:18 PM:

    I guess Herter was a real crank! Found a couple other posts about him. From what I read though “How To Live With A Bitch” isn’t what we’d expect – but it peaks ones interest – that’s for sure. Great post!!!

    Leyburn on July 31, 2009 11:27 PM:

    Loving the post and blog all the the way over in Ireland. It’s easy to be negative, you however have given me many hours of interesting reading, I raise a glass to you sir! G

    David on August 1, 2009 2:42 AM:

    Are the ‘Lumberjack Boots’ Red Wing 877s , or a Herter version that looks identical?

    Laguna Beach Trad on August 3, 2009 5:34 PM:

    Spendid post. “How to Live With a Bitch”? Sounds like a must-read.

    nigel on August 5, 2009 4:49 AM:

    Why do people insist on making negative coments? Does whinging make them fell important?
    I enjoy this blog, thank you for making the effort.

    Mike C on August 9, 2009 5:18 PM:

    Fantastic blog. Without actual human contact and accountability, the quality and civility of internet discourse plunges to more terrifying depths every day. Just by maintaining a blog of this quality, you’re improving this mess of tubes. Ignore the bastards, and keep it up.

    Nick on August 12, 2009 7:21 PM:

    Awesome post! Awesome blog! Keep it up sir!

Comments are closed.